Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
English 102
4/19/17
Barack Obama once said, So let's look at the statistics, United States is home to 5% of
the worlds population, but 25% of the worlds prisoners. Think about that. The 13th
Amendment ended slavery, but the struggle is not over, because language in that same
amendment still undermines the equal humanity of more than 7 million Americans who have
been convicted of a crime. According to Figure 1, 2.3 million people are confined in the United
States for different reasons. The Amendment, ratified at the end of the Civil War, abolished
slavery, with one critical exception: Slavery remained lawful as a punishment for crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted. In other words, if you get convicted of even the
smallest crime, there is nothing in the 13th Amendment that ensures you cant be considered a
slave of the state. In society, we often hear about how this negatively affects lives, but what can
we do to make sure that nobody is considered a slave of the state? Stopping the idea of unequal
rights takes more than individuals fighting cases in courtrooms. It requires a strategic plan that
focuses on abolishing slavery for all individuals and not just certain groups of individuals. The
currently policy uses language that makes it easy to undermine equality for all, abuse the idea
and reinstitute slavery under another disguise and does not guarantee that all persons cannot be
Amendment, but excluding except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted. By reconstructing the Amendment, all persons, convicted of a crime or not
convicted of a crime, can be fully protected without the language of the Amendment being
abused.
Many situations have happened after the 13th Amendment was ratified. In 1866, just one
year after the Civil War ended, a black man convicted of theft in Maryland was advertised for
only can criminals still be considered as slaves to the state, but they are also forced to work
against their will. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, prisoners who work are paid $0.12-
$0.40 per hour. The amendment has generally been interpreted to bar legal challenges to unpaid
or minimally paid prison labor. This is unacceptable. It is time for lawmakers to protect all
people, including criminals, from being denied their full dignity and valued as an enslaved
person. This can effectively be done by reconstructing the 13th Amendment and excluding the
Reconstructing the Amendment will reinforce the idea that slavery is illegal and there are no
exceptions to it. It will also help criminals realize that they are no different than anyone else and
will be protected by laws 100% just as all other citizens would be. Studies show that the
language of the Amendment left room for a disguise slavery: They would not call it slavery, but
some other name. Slavery has been fruitful in giving itself names It has been called by great
many names, and it will call itself by yet another name; you and I and all of us better wait and
see(DeBerry). This verifies that the language in the 13th Amendment can be undermined and
reinstitute slavery under another disguise. By reconstructing the exception in the Amendment,
criminals who suffer from this exception and are negatively impacted will have the opportunity
to finally believe that they are equal to individuals who are not considered criminals. Lastly, the
change in the Amendment will show people that all slavery is illegal and there are no exceptions.
A policy change regarding the 13th Amendment is necessary within the Constitution.
Changing the language of the Amendment will help criminals be safe under all laws and feel
comfortable within society. Additionally, it is likely that the language of the Amendment will no
longer be undermined, and slavery within the prison system will be changed. In order to put an
end to the exception of the 13th Amendment, we can exclude the exception in the Amendment
and make the language more straightforward, so that it cannot be abused in ways that will
reinvent slavery.
Work Cited
DeBerry, Jarvis. "'13th' Documentary Shows Black People Migrating from Slavery to Prison."
Initiative, Prison Policy. "Section III: The Prison Economy." Section 3 The Prison Economy -
Prison Labor - Prison Index | Prison Policy Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2017.
"Yep, Slavery Is Still Legal: Column." Google. Google, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2017.